La Bayadère (ROH Live) PLUS The Sun is God

6.30pm - The Sun is God7.15pm - La Bayadère

Please arrive by 6.15pm for the Sun is God

Pre Show Exclusive: The Sun is God6.30pm

We are delighted to offer this pre-show exclusive, recently filmed in Petworth Park.

The Sun is God is a story of love, loss and remembrance told through the poetic use of classical ballet. Francesca Hayward (The Royal Ballet) plays a woman who imagines her betrothed (Matthew Ball – The Royal Ballet) has returned from the horrors of The Great War in France. Set in and around the spectacular Petworth House in West Sussex, a painting by the great English Romanticist landscape painter JMW Turner ‘The Lake, Petworth, Sunset’ triggers memories of moments the couple have shared together, before the mist of the landscape slowly envelops Matthew and Francesca is left alone with only memories of their love.

With stirring choreography by Valentino Zucchetti (The Royal Ballet), the story is set to the moving masterpiece that is The 2nd Movement of Grieg’s Piano Concerto in A minor, performed by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.

Its title is taken from the dying words of the great artist, JMW Turner who’s life long quest was to depict the ephemeral nature of light on canvas. 2018 also marks 100 years since the end of the First World War and The Sun is God reminds us of the pain of loss felt by so many men and women of that generation, and the beauty of the land which so many gave their lives to protect for generations to come.

Accolades:

Cannes Film Festival Short Film Corner 2018 – Official Selection

Screenings: Barcelona Choreoscope Film Festival 2018, IWM Film Festival 2018, Royal Opera House 11th November 2018, Petworth Film House 13th November 2018.

THERE WILL BE A SHORT INTRODUCTION FROM CHARLES HASWELL (PRODUCER) AND ALICE PENNEFATHER (DIRECTOR) WITH TIME FOR Q&A's.

La Bayadère (ROH Live)7.15pm

Part of our 2018/19 Live Arts Series, streamed simultaneously from the ROH to our cinema screen and in full surround sound.

The Story

Nikiya, a temple dancer, is in love with the warrior Solor. The High Brahmin pursues Nikiya, and when she rejects him, he plans to take revenge on Solor.

The High Brahmin tells the Princess Gamzatti, Solor's fiancée, about Solor's secret affair with Nikiya. But Gamzatti does not want revenge on Solor, and instead arranges for Nikiya to be killed. As he celebrates his wedding to Gamzatti, Solor is haunted by Nikiya's shade. The gods are angered, and destroy the temple, killing everyone at the wedding. Finally, Solor and Nikiya are united in death.

Background

An iconic 19th-century Russian ballet, La Bayadère was originally performed at the Bolshoi Theatre in St Petersburg in 1877, and was regularly performed within the former Soviet Union throughout the 20th century. It remained unknown in the West until the Kirov Ballet toured with the Kingdom of the Shades scene in 1961. Natalia Makarova saw La Bayadère as a child in Leningrad and created this production in 1980. It was first performed by The Royal Ballet in 1989.

The Kingdom of the Shades scene in Act III is one of the ballet's highlights, in which a series of arabesques across the moonlit stage demonstrates the strength of the corps de ballet and the beauty of Marius Petipa's choreography. The ballet also contains roles of very different styles for two ballerinas in Nikiya and Gamzatti, a spectacular virtuoso solo for the Bronze Idol, and stunning pas de deux for Solor with both Nikiya and Gamzatti.